H. Kolba Judit szerk.: Historical Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum Guide 2 - From the Foundation of the State until the Expulsion of the Ottomans - The history of Hungary in the 11th to 17th centuries (Budapest, 2005)

ROOM 4 - Villages and Towns in the Second Half of the 15th century and at the Beginning of the 16th century (Piroska Biczó )31

ROOM 4 Villages and Towns in the Second Half of the 15th century and at the Beginning of the 16th century Hungary joined the exchange of goods in mediaeval Europe with her raw materials and food products. The export of raw materials was initially based on the production of Hungarian mines but as the cattle trade and the exporting of wine expanded, agriculture played an increasing part in foreign trade. As a result of this economic and commercial situation, Hungary remained an agrarian country throughout the Middle Ages, and this was evident in its settlements and in settlement construction as well. In the early 15th century, after the capital, Buda, situated in the heart of the country, the most important towns were to be found in the vicinity of the western and northern borders, in accordance with foreign trade traffic. Large areas, such as southern Transdanubia and the Great Plain, remained without real towns. In the second half of the 15th century, increasing agricultural exports caused a shifting of the focal point, ultimately resulting in the rise of Buda and Pest. The importance of Székesfehérvár grew. Szeged was a royal market-town in a huge area totally lacking in urbanization: it was raised to the rank of royal free town in 1498. At the same time, the towns along the western border declined. The mining towns represented a special group; the Saxon towns in the southeastern part of the country were important economic and cultural centres whose exports were directed primarily to the Romanian voivodates. In the handling of the exchange of goods in smaller districts, an important role was played by the seigniorial towns and by the market-towns possessing different privileges and the right to hold markets and fairs. The second half of the 15th century was characterized not by an increase in the number of market-towns, but rather by their strengthening. The continuous growth in the number of their inhabitants, and in the number of those engaged in commerce and handicrafts (some 19 to 20 per cent), points to this. VILLAGES AND MARKET-TOWNS The majority of the country's inhabitants lived in villages. By the 15th century, with the spreading of crop rotation, settlements of large dimensions and loose structure had vanished. In their place villages evolved that consisted of rows of houses, and, frequently, of only one row. As late as the 15th century, the only stone building in a village, and often in a market-town, was the church, perhaps the presbytery, and the manor-house (if any) of the landowner. In the 15th century, existing village churches, and especially the churches in estate-centres and market-towns erected in earlier centuries, were rebuilt and enlarged. Such rebuilding is shown on the Gothic vestry window belonging to the church of the small village of Sarvaly. The size, artistic level and the links of the settlement church were determined by the economic strength of the landowner, his sense of show, and the number of the inhabitants. The two-level chapel built in Csütörtökhely (Spissky átvrtok) by Imre Szapolyai, lord-lieutenant for life of Szepes region and later palatine of the country, displays artistic links with Vienna. The Late Gothic court art style of the Matthias period is represented by the Parish Church of St. George, built in the Nyírbátor estatecentre owned by István Báthory, voivode of Transylvania. (The church was, at the same time, the burial church of the builder.) In the architecture of the different areas of the country, the more important buildings in the regions had an important role as local prototypes. The church of Csíkrákos (Racu) was rebuilt in the 1460s. The east end of the church was enlarged through the construction of a polygonal Gothic chancel, and at its west end a huge steeple was erected, which because of its lower crevice windows was suited for defence, while its wide windows at the upper level were suitable for watching the surrounding country-